Sofia: Phoenix Rising - Fire Within! Book 1
Chapter Twenty-seven

My body starts to feel warm. I can feel my cheeks flushing and my heart pounding. I can hear the thudding in my ears as my pulse races. Momentarily I think this must be what a panic attack feels like, but then the room begins to whirl and spin around me causing me to sway where I stand. Heat is flowing off of me in waves and raising my hands, I see why. I am shrouded in flames. I hear a collective gasp from the entire room before everyone falls silent.

“Sofie love, you’ve got to control your emotions.” I can hear Ash speaking quietly to me inside my head and that alone helps me immensely to calm myself. I take a couple of deep breaths and as Ash interlocks his fingers within mine, I feel my body temperature cool down.

“My, my. Isn’t that ever so interesting...” I am pretty sure the unearthly elvish looking male who is sitting directly across from where I stand is the one who has said this, though I don’t know who he was speaking to exactly, me? The group around the table? Perhaps the general populace of the room. Really though, I don’t care who he is speaking to, this is the second time someone has mentioned how it is ‘interesting’ after having seen Ash touch me. That word is slowly becoming an aggravation of mine!

Another person seated at the long table in front of me stands and oh my gosh! She is absolutely beautiful. I can feel a power or energy flowing from her which I feel heightens her beauty and if I had to guess, I would say she is either a witch or a vampire. Her pitch-black hair falls to her waist like a waterfall, but it is her eyes that are ever so captivating... “everyone, leave, now!” I hear her say firmly to those behind me and without question, they do as they are told. Chancing a look, I see that Charlie, Ash, Lori and I are the only ones left in the room aside from those position strategically around the long table.

Now that my attention is solely focused on the beings in front of me, I can see there are a total of 15 of them. A few of them are easy to sort out, Pixie, Faye, Elf, and the dark-haired lady I am confident in saying now, is a vampire. The rest however are so ‘normal’ looking that if I had passed them on the street, I would have assumed I was just walking by another human.

“Sofia Einan, I would like to introduce you to the Heads of Order. Each are an ambassador essentially to their clan, pack, den, etc. And each are held in high regards to their people, and to our community, to ensure that all are able to live here in peace and harmony. Any issues that arise are brought to them and dealt with in unity by them.”

I nod my head like I understand what Charlie is saying, but I don’t, well not completely. Truly though, I don’t really care at this point about the World of Tenebrosity, I just want to know why I have been brought here and why they are so worried about Blake and ‘his’ people knowing that I am the Phoenix. “So...,” I’m not exactly sure what I want to say or ask but the silence that has descended upon the room is unnerving. “Would anyone care to explain why I have been brought here and what has everyone up in arms about my existence?”

“I have the full wordage of the scrolls that we have been told about,” Ash begins to say at the same moment someone from the table speaks, a very odd looking being I might add. I cannot say female or male because I honestly do not have a clue. The skin is sort of a yellow-greenish color, eyes are massive compared to the rest of its face and it isn’t very tall in stature. Quickly I run every fairytale I was told as a kid through my head trying to figure out what the being might be. If I have to guess, I am going to say it is a goblin, but it is just a guess.

“You are a highly sought-after creature dear child. And from just the small amount of power you displayed moments ago, I can understand why. Not everyone in ‘our world’ is here to see that you grow and prosper, to become the most magnificent being that either world has ever seen but rather want to drain you of your energy, steal your feathers and consume your power as their own so that they may become supreme, God-like beings of old and take control of our world, unleashing essentially, Hell on earth.”

Talk about concise. The goblin-like creature isn’t the most attractive entity in the room to look at, but I definitely love its bluntness in answering my questions. “Um, okay. I understand what you are saying but how do you suggest protecting me? I mean, I have four and a half months of school left before I graduate. Not to mention my parents! Do they know about this world? And will you guys protect them as well? Seriously, I cannot just up and disappear. This isn’t fair at all!” I actually had to stop myself from stomping my feet on the ground like a toddler in a tantrum. God, I sound like a whiny self-absorbed little brat and yet, why shouldn’t I be upset. Did I ask to be this special, rare creature that hasn’t been seen in centuries... No!

Ash steps closer to me, wrapping an arm around my waist, pulling me in close to his side at the same time trying to offer some comfort for me when I notice everyone’s eyes have gone wide, in shock? I’m not sure. I realize they are seeing the current of energy that flows between he and I. They may not have noticed this the first time he had touched me because I was engulfed with flames, and they had been amazed by the simple fact that Ash could even make contact with my skin when I was fire.

“How is that possible?”

“I thought that was just a myth.”

“They’re twin flames!”

I can hear the whispered and not so whispered questions as the group in front of us continue to stare blatantly at Ash and I. “What in the world has you all speaking at once?” Lori the ever outspoken one is glaring at the Heads of Order as she asks her question which causes me to suppress a smile that desperately wants to break free from me.

The most ‘normal’ looking of the bunch stands from the dead center of the long table. She has Irish-red hair cut in a bob that falls to her jawline, sparking green eyes, a simple white top and in jeans is her attire and yet she looks so sophisticated in her outfit, that I feel underdressed somehow. “You sweet one are surprising us left and right dear one. Do not worry,” the lady adds raising her hand, hindering me from asking a question; “that is far from bad, I promise. Not only do you amaze us with the power we can feel flowing from you in waves, but you have also found your twin flame, Tenebrae’s version of ‘true love’.” I’ll explain it to you in more detail when we are alone, I hear Ash say in my head. I nod my head yes to him and see eyebrows arch or raise all around us. Don’t say anything about us being able to communicate like this, he adds. No one needs to know about our ‘direct’ link to one another, the telepathy we share.

Charlie and her hand clapping that she tends to have a habit of doing causes me to jump about a foot off of the ground. “Shall we get down to business, hmm?” Four extra chairs have suddenly appeared in front of us. Near to the long table but far enough away from the table that I can still see those already seated. Charlie nods for us to take a seat and then that awkward silence is upon us once more.

“Since no one is offering to speak, I have one suggestion,” Lori says breaking the quietness of the room. A few murmurs can be heard but Lori doesn’t give anyone a chance to speak; “the first thing we need to do is speak with Mr. And Mrs. Einan. We need to explain how special Sofia is and get them to understand how important it is to protect her and keep her safe.”

Everyone begins to shake their heads up and down in agreement to Lori and then the goblin looks to Charlie; “correct me if I am wrong, which I hardly ever am and have been thinking about this from the moment you introduced Miss Einan to us, but Einan means ’little bird’, yes?”

Looking at Charlie myself, I think for a second before asking; “you don’t think my parents are shifters, do you?” My eyes have gone wide at the thought. Though nothing at this point should shock me, yet to ask the question has me wondering about all of the travelling they do and if they had been hiding this insanely massive secret from me for well, my entire life!

“Oh, I don’t think darlin’, I know they are shifters.” Charlie says matter-of-factly to me, and my mouth falls wide open.

Ash stands from where he was seated next to me. “I think that maybe I should take Sofia and Lori home. Sofia looks to be going into sensory overload and I think it best if we leave for now, or rather it would be safer for all of you if we leave, now.” Taking my hand, Ash pulls me up from my seat and though I hear him hiss for the briefest of seconds, he keeps my hand woven with his. Realizing his hiss was because of my rapidly rising body temperature, I try to calm myself. The last thing I would ever want to do is harm him, unintentionally or not.

“I think I will come with you lot,” Charlie says standing as well. “It has been many years since I have seen the Einan’s. It should be quite a reunion I think.” I can’t help but stare at the little old owl. Ash tips his head to the left, giving Lori a sign, I guess, that it was definitely time to depart. He nudges my arm with his elbow slightly, encouraging me to leave and after another five or so seconds of standing frozen, my legs finally comply, and I walk with Ash out of the room.